6. SHOW YOUR BODY WHO'S BOSS"The human body has limitations," Karnazes says. "The human spirit is boundless." Your mind, in other words, is your most important muscle. As a running buddy told him: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!"

"They say that the strongest wins. But the strongest in what way? I remember, at the time of the championships in Lima, that Reding in training lifted record weights. He had acquired a terrific strength and huge muscles, but he lost to me, even though he was physically stronger. Why? Serge and I haddifferent ways of training. Others thought for him. He carried out the suggestions of his coach, Dupont. Roughly speaking, Reding took in 'the science of winning' though his ears. And this showed when he was on his own with the barbell. But, as for me, I thought for myself. Serge also lost because he wanted to beat me. That's all he thought about. He worried constantly and burned himself out before he even got to the platform . . ." - Vasiliy Alexeyev

"They say that the strongest wins. But the strongest in what way? I remember, at the time of the championships in Lima, that Reding in training lifted record weights. He had acquired a terrific strength and huge muscles, but he lost to me, even though he was physically stronger. Why? Serge and I haddifferent ways of training. Others thought for him. He carried out the suggestions of his coach, Dupont. Roughly speaking, Reding took in 'the science of winning' though his ears. And this showed when he was on his own with the barbell. But, as for me, I thought for myself. Serge also lost because he wanted to beat me. That's all he thought about. He worried constantly and burned himself out before he even got to the platform . . ." - Vasiliy Alexeyev

"They say that the strongest wins. But the strongest in what way? I remember, at the time of the championships in Lima, that Reding in training lifted record weights. He had acquired a terrific strength and huge muscles, but he lost to me, even though he was physically stronger. Why? Serge and I haddifferent ways of training. Others thought for him. He carried out the suggestions of his coach, Dupont. Roughly speaking, Reding took in 'the science of winning' though his ears. And this showed when he was on his own with the barbell. But, as for me, I thought for myself. Serge also lost because he wanted to beat me. That's all he thought about. He worried constantly and burned himself out before he even got to the platform . . ." - Vasiliy Alexeyev

"They say that the strongest wins. But the strongest in what way? I remember, at the time of the championships in Lima, that Reding in training lifted record weights. He had acquired a terrific strength and huge muscles, but he lost to me, even though he was physically stronger. Why? Serge and I haddifferent ways of training. Others thought for him. He carried out the suggestions of his coach, Dupont. Roughly speaking, Reding took in 'the science of winning' though his ears. And this showed when he was on his own with the barbell. But, as for me, I thought for myself. Serge also lost because he wanted to beat me. That's all he thought about. He worried constantly and burned himself out before he even got to the platform . . ." - Vasiliy Alexeyev

"Having an imaginative mind is the most important key to having a good vertical jump or lifting big weights. The ability to visualize your motor outputs as clearly and distinctively in your mind is essential because when you actually perform these motor skills in real life, you are already primed to do so. Kelly Baggett has mentioned that most explosive athletes are right brain dominated...in other words they are good visualizers who can hold clear images in their minds of what they wish to create or become. They have practiced their movements over and over again in their minds, and their neurons are already firing and connecting to the movements themselves in precise patterns and structures as when you are actually performing the movements in real life and with your body. I've realized that there is little difference between making sculptures and performing a big vertical jump. In both endeavors, you are transferring what you visualize creatively in your mind into the actual reality. The better you are at generating and producing and manipulating these images in your mind, the better your "products" in reality will turn out to be. In sculpture, the products are of course, the sculptures themselves. But in lifting and in jumping, the product is the self, which you have primed and crafted in your mind. I jump with my mind, not with my body." -- frank yang